


Everyone Wants Friends

by writteninblood



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Elementary School, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bullying, Drabble, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff, Gen, Homophobia, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 02:07:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13203483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninblood/pseuds/writteninblood
Summary: Prompt: "What are you doing?" ... "Cuddling you."





	Everyone Wants Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I could think of no universe where Oswald and Edward would say these words as adults. Hence the drastic aging down. Begins just after the start of fourth grade.

“Have you made any friends at school yet?” Gertrud asks as she flits around the kitchen, baking. Oswald is sat at the kitchen island, waiting for her to turn her back so he can dip his finger into the frosting dish. 

“No, I think they all still think I’m all weird, but that’s okay, it’s better than getting bullied like Edward Nashton.” He takes a chance as she puts some used cutlery in the sink, but she turns around in time just to catch him licking his fingers. 

“I _saw_ that!” She says, tip-toeing round the island exaggeratedly and pinching his nose. 

“Mom! Your hands are covered in flour!” He says, giggling. She makes it worse by squeezing both his cheeks as she kisses him on the forehead. 

“Why do they bully this poor child?” She asks, turning her attention back to the washing up bowl. The smell of cookies wafting up from the oven is almost too much for Oswald to bear. 

“Because he’s really skinny and his glasses are too big for his face. And he actually _likes_ math and science.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well it’s weird. Math and science are hard. But it doesn’t seem like they are for him.”

“Maybe he could help you?”

“I don’t think he wants any friends, mom.”

“Everyone wants friends. Even people who say they don’t. This Nashton boy must be terribly lonely.”

“But how do I get him to be friends with me?”

Gertrud puts on her oven glove and retrieves the tray of cookies from the oven. Oswald is practically salivating.

“Maybe if I put some extra cookies in your lunch box tomorrow you could offer to share them?”

“No one could resist your baking dear,” Elijah says, entering the kitchen and putting his briefcase down on the island. He walks around the counter to wrap his arms around Gertrud and kisses her on the cheek. “What’s this? Have you made a new friend, Oswald?”

“Not yet. We’re figuring out how.” 

“Well, if all else fails, just give him a Van Dahl cuddle.” Elijah sneaks around the back of Oswald’s chair and starts tickling him before clutching him in a hug.

Once Oswald gets his breath back he says, “cuddling’s not really something boys do, dad.”

“Well it should be,” Gertrud says. “Cuddles make everyone feel better. I bet that boy could do with a cuddle.”

“Okay well, if the cookies don’t work, I’ll give it a shot. Thanks mom.”

Elijah raises his eyebrows. 

Oswald rolls his eyes. “Thanks, dad.” He looks at the tray on the counter beside Gertrud. “May I please have a cookie now?”

*

During the lunch break, Oswald watches as Edward heads to the far side of the school yard and chooses a bench half hidden by a plant, no doubt hoping to go unnoticed. Oswald is nervous; he finds it much easier to just fade into the background, as the weird kid that no one understands or is sure how to approach, even to mock. But it _would_ be nice to have someone to talk to, and it _would_ be great to have someone help him with science. He’s pretty good at math, but struggles with some science concepts. He bets Edward would explain it in a really interesting way too. He takes his lunch box out of his bag and approaches Edward’s table. 

He thinks Edward can see him in his peripheral vision, but he’s determined not to make eye contact with anyone.

“Hi Edward, my name is Oswald Van Dahl.” Oswald holds out his hand, but Edward is still perched on the edge of the bench, staring at the ground like he’s ready to bolt. He doesn’t look or offer out his hand in return.

Pursing his lips in sympathy, Oswald walks around to Edward’s side of the table and swings his legs over, sitting beside Edward. He opens his lunch box and places the bag of Gertrud’s homemade cookies on the table between them. 

“Would you like some cookies? They’re really good. My mom made them.”

Still, Edward doesn’t move. “No,” is all he says. 

Oswald thinks he must either be really crazy or really sad, to be rejecting his mom’s cookies. 

There’s only one thing left for him to try now, and he’s still a bit dubious about it. But if his parents said it would work, then surely it will?

He shuffles along closer to Edward on the bench, and puts his arms around Edward’s shoulders. His shoulders feel very bony, not exactly pleasant to cuddle, like his mom and dad. But he perseveres. 

“What are you _doing_?” Edward asks, his cheeks red.

“Cuddling you.” Oswald responds, simply. Surely that’s obvious.

Edward looks around them, and Oswald follows his gaze. He wishes he hadn’t; everyone in the school yard is looking at them. Edward’s breathing becomes erratic, like he’s having an asthma attack or something.

“Get off me!” he wheezes. He then shoves at Oswald so hard he falls off the back of the bench, his lower back hitting the concrete unforgivingly. He cries out from the almighty throb of pain after the impact. 

Edward promptly runs away, and Oswald can’t stop himself from crying from the shock of it all. He really doesn’t want to cry in front of the other kids, but he’s powerless to stop the streams of tears. Eventually a teacher comes to see if he’s all right, helping him up and taking him to the nurse’s office. The nurse just says he has some bad bruising but should take the next day off school to rest. He’s sent home early to a worrying Gertrud, who spends the rest of the day fussing and trying to get him to tell her what happened. But Oswald doesn’t want to talk about it; he feels wretched from the shame and embarrassment of the way Edward rejected him. And he feels hurt that Edward Nashton doesn’t want to be his friend. 

When he goes back to school, things return to normal. Edward sits in the far corner of the school yard, most days getting heckled by bullies, who have added homophobic slurs to their list of insults. Oswald just keeps to himself, and eats his lunch in silence, ignored by everyone. 

*

It’s two weeks later when Oswald has the accident; knocked off his bike on his way home from school. It’s a further month until he returns to classes. He hobbles onto the grounds on crutches, every step painful for his mangled leg, even though he tries to take the weight off it. It’s incredibly frustrating how it takes him so long to do everything now, and he frequently wants to throw the crutches at the wall and cry about how unfair it is. 

He hobbles out to his usual bench at lunch. He’s looking forward to sitting down for an hour, and enjoying some of the cookies his mom made, _double_ chocolate chip, since he’s had such a hard time of it lately. He has just sat down and placed his backpack beside him when he notices the boys who normally bully Edward approaching him. They start yelling that he waddles on his crutches like a penguin, a _gay_ penguin, and they call him a momma’s boy with no friends. All of this on top of the fact he will never walk normally again is too much. He stares down at the table and concentrates on not crying. 

He’s on the cusp of giving in to the tears and sobbing about how awful everything is, when someone wearing white and green stripes sits beside him. He looks up and his eyes meet Edward Nashton’s. Edward smiles nervously at him. Oswald tries to smile back, even through the hurt and confusion. Has Edward changed his mind? Does he want something? Is this a trick?

But then Edward suddenly wraps his arms around Oswald’s middle, and Oswald stares down at them, mouth agape.

“What are you doing?” Oswald asks, his heart fluttering wildly in his chest.

“Cuddling you.”

Oswald grins widely, he doesn’t think he’s ever been this happy at school before. He looks up, and the bullies look a combination of disgusted and confused; they whisper and laugh some before dispersing. Oswald sags with relief. He glances at Edward, who’s leaning his head on Oswald’s shoulder. His hair smells nice.

Oswald reaches into his bag, moving his body as little as possible, hoping that Edward won’t stop cuddling him, and pulls out his lunch box. 

“Would you like some cookies?”

“I would love some.”

Oswald smiles and holds out the bag to him. Edward moves one hand to take a cookie, leaving the other around Oswald’s back. Oswald can’t stop smiling at him. 

They’re inseparable after that.


End file.
